1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of vacuum cleaner attachments and, in particular, to one having a replaceable cleaning pad.
2. Description of Related Art
Most vacuum cleaners encounter difficulty in picking up hairs, lint, and the like because they tend to hold to woven materials such as rugs and fabric covered furniture. Thus it is common practice to incorporate attachments to the end of the vacuum lines that include cleaning pads or brushes to loosen and comb the lint out of these woven materials so that they can be subsequently "picked up" by the vacuum cleaner. One cleaning pad material used in such devices comprises woven fibers or filaments that are inclined in the same direction such that when the fibers are brushed across in one direction they lie down without frictionally grasping the lint and/or hairs. When stroked in the opposite direction, they tend to stand up and frictionally engage the lint and act as a rake to loosen it up so that they are easily picked up by the vacuum cleaner. Such an attachment fitting using such material is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,379 "Pickup" by W. J. Carrigan. However, the Carrigan device incorporates a complicated system for attaching the pad to the fitting that requires special fasteners that can easily be lost or broken.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,962 "Nozzle For Vacuum Cleaner" by K. Krusche, an attachment fitting is disclosed wherein the cleaning pad includes a rod like fitting that extends through a hole in the top surface of the fitting and which is held therein by a detente. While simpler than the Carrigan device, it is prone to the collection of dust and dirt around the hole. When the cleaning pad is removed, the collected dust can be easily fall to the floor In U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,189 "Brush Adapter For Vacuuming" by E. M. Roth, a system is disclosed wherein the vacuum is drawn through an aperture in a replaceable cleaning pad. The cleaning pad is mounted to a housing by a complicated clamping arrangement wherein the pad is secured to a detachable mounting plate by means of a hollow retainer that extends through the pad and locks it to mounting plate. This design is overly complicated and requires too much time for pad replacement. U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,386 "Rug Care Implement" by E. M. Roth shows a similar system. German Patent No. 810,390 also discloses a complicated system for mounting a cleaning brush insert into a vacuum cleaner attachment.
Thus, it is a primary object of the invention to provide a vacuum cleaner attachment having a removable cleaning pad.
It is another primary object of the invention to provide a vacuum cleaner attachment having a removable cleaning pad that picks up lint, hairs and the like.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a vacuum cleaner attachment having a removable cleaning pad that picks up lint and/or hairs one direction and releases it when moved in the opposite direction, and further includes a vacuum pickup that picks up the released lint and the like when it is moved in the opposite direction.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a vacuum cleaner attachment having a removable cleaning pad that can only be installed with the proper orientation.
It is another object of the invention to provide a vacuum cleaner attachment having a removable cleaning pad that is easy to remove and replace.